1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a communication system installed within a vehicle and a corresponding method for processing telephone information to indicate an incoming telephone call.
2. Description of Art Related to the Invention
Over the last few decades, commercial aircraft has become a necessary mode of travel for personal and business reasons. In order to improve passenger comfort, many commercial airlines now are being implemented with passenger entertainment systems that support on-board telephony and entertainment activities such as video games, pay-per-view movies and the like. Typically, on a commercial aircraft, telephony is supported by conventional telephone hardware which is designed only to support outgoing telephone calls originating from an on-board telephone handset servicing one or more passenger seat(s), traditionally not to receive incoming telephone calls. Thus, commercial aircraft have been designed without any capability of notifying a passenger that an incoming telephone call is being transmitted to his or her designated telephone handset.
In light of the growing use of cellular telephones and pagers, it is evident that many people desire the ability of communicating with others at any moment in time. However, for well-recognized reasons, the use of personal cellular phones during airflight is strictly prohibited.
Clearly, it would be advantageous to create a communication system and method for processing telephone information to notify a passenger that an incoming telephone call has been received. This call notification mechanism, noticeably absent from traditional passenger entertainment systems, would enable a telephony system, situated in close proximity to the passenger seat(s), to produce an audible sound (e.g., call ring) to indicate that an incoming telephone call is being received. The use of audible sound for call notification may be disabled in favor of an alternative call notification scheme. This alternative call notification scheme may be necessary in those instances where the call ring would (i) require a high decibel range in order to be heard over the noise associated with motorized travel or (ii) disturb neighboring passengers who may be sleeping, especially if traveling late at night. Yet another reason to avoid audible sound is that sound notification may cause passenger confusion in determining whether the call rings are emanating from their telephony system.